


i'm still wandering down these lost avenues

by soulofme



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Back to Earth, Comfort, Drabble, Established Relationship, Future Fic, I'm late I know, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Voltron, SheithMonth2k17, keith does his best to help, shiro is having trouble adjusting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 01:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11978796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofme/pseuds/soulofme
Summary: “I don’t know anything else but Voltron now,” Shiro confesses. “I don’t remember who I was before this. I’m not sure I ever will.”“We don’t have to reinvent ourselves,” Keith says, and it almost sounds like a promise. “We are Voltron. That’ll never change.”





	i'm still wandering down these lost avenues

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt 23: Future.
> 
> Title from If You're Hearing This by Hook N Sling, Parson James, and Betty Who.

Coming back to Earth isn’t supposed to feel so strange.

The Galra were defeated, Zarkon’s reign officially ended. Those he imprisoned were set free, able to lead the lives they could only dream of before. The galaxy is at peace, Voltron once again serving as symbol of freedom and endless protection. There isn’t anyone to fight, now. There are only alliances to be fortified, peace to be maintained.

They’d done their job. It’s time to come home.

And home Shiro is, at Lance’s place in Arizona. The celebration rages on behind him, the sounds of laughter worming its way into his ears. He closes his eyes and leans over the railing of the porch.

It’s not that he isn’t happy to be home. There’s something almost familiar about it, something easy and comfortable. He guesses it’s because he’s not fighting for his life anymore.

It’s been years since Shiro’s set foot on Earth. He thought he’d cry at the sight of it, but nothing even close to that had happened. He just walked on stiffly, ignorant of the rest of his team behind him. He’d shut himself into one of the vans that would take them to get freshened up before they’d make their first debut on national television. Voltron, the Legendary Defenders of the Universe. It had a nice ring to it. It always did.

It doesn’t mean anything _now_ , though. They’re not paladins anymore. People aren't concerned about the friends they abandoned or those who were killed. They only care about how they spent so long in space, about how aliens are actually out there.

Shiro knows he’s clinging too hard onto it. They’d done what they needed to. They all knew they’d have to come back home eventually. It shouldn’t surprise him so much, but he can only compare the feeling to falling into a pool of ice cold water without being prepared. It’s shocking, it’s painful, and Shiro doesn’t think he can get used to it.

“…Shiro.”

He turns at the sound of his name. Keith stands behind him, arms crossed over his chest. There’s something soft in his eyes though, something almost understanding, but Shiro doesn’t want to look at it right now. He doesn’t want to be pitied.

He turns around and lets his arms hang limply over the porch railing. Keith slides the door shut behind him and shuffles forward, whistling softly.

“It’s kinda cold, huh?” Keith offers. Shiro shrugs, a slight grin on his face.

“It’s not too bad.”

“Right,” Keith murmurs. He clears his throat quietly and looks at Shiro curiously. “Party too much for you?”

“No,” Shiro says. “Lance’s family is really nice.”

“Yeah, they are,” Keith agrees. “I can see why he missed them.”

Shiro goes quiet at that. Keith mirrors his position and looks at something off in the distance, a small frown on his face.

“What’s up with you?” Keith asks. It’s blunt, direct. Keith always is. “You’ve been off ever since we came back home.”

 _Came back home_. Shiro runs the words over in his head a few times. They leave a sour taste in his mouth.

“Have I?” Shiro mutters. Feigning ignorance may get him a few more moments of wallowing in whatever the hell he’s feeling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Hey,” Keith says then, almost sharply, “stop trying to…”

“Trying to _what_?”

“Be strong,” Keith finishes flatly. He scowls heavier then, kicking at a small pebble on Lance’s porch. “You don’t need to act like the world’s on your shoulders anymore.”

“It’s not,” Shiro says, and if Keith picks up on the bitterness in his voice he doesn’t comment. “Not the world, not the galaxy, not anything.”

Keith exhales softly at that, a _whoosh_ of air that sounds far too loud in the suddenly oppressive silence stretching between them. Shiro looks down at his hands so he doesn’t have to look at Keith’s face.

“Talk to me, Shiro,” he mutters, probably meant to be encouraging. Shiro isn’t sure he can. “Just…talk to me.”

“What do we do now?” Shiro says, flexing the fingers of his right hand. He watches as the metal reflects the porch light behind them.

“We go back to how we were before,” Keith says, but he sounds unsure. He knows, Shiro realizes then. He knows there’s no way for things to be the same again. “You know, pick up the pieces. Figure things out. Get settled.”

“And if we can’t?” Shiro asks.

Keith furrows his eyebrows and stares hard at the ground. He picks at a loose thread on one of his gloves, jaw set tight.

“I don’t know, Shiro.”

It’s an honest answer. It doesn’t exactly do much in terms of soothing him, but Shiro doesn’t want to be comforted. Maybe it’s best if he just comes to terms with the reality of their situation, painful as it may be.

“It’ll fade, you know,” Shiro murmurs. “We’re heroes now but we won’t be in a year. Maybe less. The novelty of it will wear off.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?”

“No.”

“Then what?” Keith asks, turning to face him again.

“It’s easy for everyone else to forget. They weren’t up there with us. But the five of us? We’ll always remember.” He pauses, gauging Keith’s reaction. “What if it always hurts?”

Shiro’s words hang between them. Keith opens his mouth but doesn’t respond right away. He clears his throat again and curls his hands around the railing.

“I think it’ll always hurt,” Keith finally replies, his voice low. “That was our life, Shiro. That’s all we knew for years.”

“I don’t know anything else but Voltron now,” Shiro confesses. “I don’t remember who I was before this. I’m not sure I ever will.”

“We don’t have to reinvent ourselves,” Keith says, and it almost sounds like a promise. “We _are_ Voltron. That’ll never change.”

He shifts towards Shiro and presses a firm hand against his chest, right over his heart. Keith’s eyes search Shiro’s face.

“You know who you are,” Keith continues. “And if you forget, just look in here.”

Shiro leans forward then, pressing his forehead against Keith’s. He presses a hand over Keith’s and lets the warmth sink down deep into his skin.

"It's gonna be okay, Takashi," Keith mumbles, and Shiro closes his eyes and lets his lips brush against Keith's forehead.

“Thank you,” he manages to say, and Keith nods silently.


End file.
